Hanging Clothes Out to Dry

Three years ago when we moved into our house that came complete with a pair of 1940's era 100 foot spaced clothesline poles, I had domestic ambitions to be a "green" laundress and enjoy the splendid comforting scent of line-dried towels, bedding and clothes. Needless to say, a lot of reality happened. It wasn't until we did some major yard work last spring/summer and moved one post to a more reasonable 50 foot spacing that we actually strung some line.

I still remember feeling self-conscious with the first load of laundry I hung out. It was only towels, but I felt like there was something weird or silly about it. Or futile. I probably hung out another 4 or 5 loads total until the weather turned.

So now it's nice out again and I've been mulling over how to be more green in my family's day to day lifestyle. Laundry seemed like an easy part of it. I've been using Seventh Generation's Lavender laundry detergent. I LOVE the scent of lavender. Getting that whiff while pouring the soap in and adding the clothes is like eating a piece of chocolate for me. Then I add about 1/2 a cup of white distilled vinegar to the fabric softener compartment. It freshens clothes amazingly, especially towels, and I still get the lavender fragrance when taking the wet clothes out. Sounds weird but it totally works.

So my maiden clothes hanging experiences this spring was mixed. I had a HUGE basket of kiddie clothes and 50 clothespins. I was doubtful not too far into the hanging process that all of the itty bitty clothes and socks and panties would make it up and I was right. Still had room on the line, but needed more pins. So I took the last 1/4-1/3 of the load back into the dryer since I needed to get the laundry finished and couldn't just wait while two more loads piled up.

While it felt wholesome to be standing in the sunny breeze and watch my two little ones play and toddle nearby while I hung their clothes out to dry, I had this nagging feeling of futility. "What is the point? I'm doing this more as an experiment of faith than anything else. It doesn't seem practical. Am I really going to do this with every load of laundry as long as the weather is good? What does it matter that this load or part of a load was hung out to dry rather than machine dried?" I didn't time myself but it seemed to be around 15-20 minutes to hang them and another 15-20 min when I took them down and folded them a couple of hours later. I also discovered that it would be nice to have one of these aprons or bags. :) Although I'm sure I could figure out how to sew either....

I felt good being outside, stretching and reaching; being productive while my children played and explored. I have very vivid fond memories of being a young girl playing in the hanging damp clothes as the sun and breeze billowed the sheets and dried the jeans. My heart smiled with joy to see my daughter discover that same thing.

Will I keep hanging clothes out to dry? Yes. Will I reach a point where I don't feel like an inconsistent hypocrite because I still use my dryer? I sure hope so. An article my husband sent me from the Washington Post made me smile: It Isn't Easy Being Green: What Kermit the Frog and Green Moms Know

One final note, I came across a website called Project Laundry List. I guess I should count myself lucky to have the freedom and space to dry my clothes on a line!